Riots And Representation

Caste politics has marginalised Muslims. They are deliberately being denied their due. This is apparent from the list of candidates released by various political parties for Bihar assembly election, say Urdu newspapers. The declining representation of Muslims in state assemblies and Parliament has always been a cause of concern for the community. The issue specially crops up during election time. Commentators in Urdu newspapers have complained that the BJP-led NDA and Lalu-Nitish-Congress combine once again forgot Muslims while selecting candidates.

"Muslims of Bihar have always been seen as a vote bank. Political parties, including BJP, are competing with one another to capture their vote. Everyone is eager to get it but no one is ready to do justice with Muslims. They have become pawns in the hands of power seekers. The same story is being repeated this time around," writes Afroz Alam Sahil in the Oct. 4, 2015 edition of daily Inquilab.

Sehroza Dawat of Delhi, on the other hand, has blasted the saffron party for seeking Muslim votes with greed. "The BJP has fielded only two Muslims but it is looking at their votes like vultures. First it would try to get it, if it fails then it would try to spoil it by dividing it in a way that the division goes in its favour. It has tried this successfully during 2014 Lok Sabha election. The party is interested in Muslims' vote not their representation in assembly or Parliament," says the bi-weekly in its edition dated 25 Sept. 2015.

While releasing the second list of BJP candidates, Union Minister J.P. Nadda had claimed that all the communities have been taken care of. But Dawat disputes this. It says: "On seeing the names one would realise that social engineering and castes have been the only criteria. Development and packages are just slogans, the real game is played on caste. The BJP has fielded the maximum number of upper caste people. Twenty-two Yadavs have also been given tickets, which is perhaps an attempt to slice RJD's vote share."

The commentators have also questioned the list of the so-called secular parties. Lalu Prasad's RJD, from its quota of 101, has given tickets to 16 Muslims while Nitish Kumar's JD(U) seven (out of 101) and congress eight (out of 41). "The grand alliance has fielded a total of 31 candidates which is 12.75 percent of the 243 seats being contested. Muslims constitute 16.87 percent of Bihar's population as per 2011 census report. During the last 10 years, Muslims' population in the state has risen by 44 lakhs but their share in power has seen a decline," says the Inquilab article quoting figures from the Bihar Legislative Assembly. There are 80 seats in the state where Muslims are in a position to directly influence the result, it adds.

Say no to Owaisi

Qaumi Tanzeem of Patna has published an article which is titled "Bihar Assembly election and our strategy". The article calls on Muslims not to make communal statements; do not speak in the language of Asaduddin Owaisi; don't get provoked; maintain communal harmony at all costs; tread with care otherwise communal riots may flare up and go to the advantage of BJP; there is a direct fight between secular and non-secular forces, while the former is led by the grand alliance, the latter by NDA.

Asad Raza, a senior editor of Rashtriye Sahara, sees a connection between communal riots in Bihar's neighbouring states and the state election. Referring to the lynching of a Muslim in UP's Basahra village for alleged consumption of beef and communal flare ups in some other places in UP and Jharkhand, he says, "Whenever there is election, communal organisations become active and conspire to divide people along religion and castes … Although this is done mainly by Hindu fascist forces like Bajrang Dal and VHP, certain Muslim leaders also play their part by making provocative statements. They even become candidates in Muslim-dominated constituencies. In fact the Hindu and Muslim politicians indulge in shadow boxing. Whether Praveen Togadia issues threats to Asaduddin Owaisi or the latter to the former, the ultimate sufferers remain the minority community."

Muslim Dalits support Modi?

Meanwhile, daily Sangam of Patna, contrary to its editorial policy, has published an edit page article advising Muslims to vote for BJP. The UNI article, written by Dr. Jaseem Mohammad, says: "We may disagree with some of the policies of BJP, but no one is against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his agenda of development… Lower caste Muslims are in support of BJP because they have seen the government's policies for their development… Article 341 has provision only for Hindu Dalits. Through a 1950 order of the President of India Sikh and Buddhist Dalits were also brought under the purview of this article but Muslim and Christian Dalits were left out. This is a clear case of discrimination on the basis of religion. This is high time BJP should promise Muslims that they too would be provided with the provision of reservation under Article 341."